At the time of writing this column, it was not known whether Teresa Heinz
Kerry would be the next First Lady or not. Nevertheless, the Los Angeles
Times revealed last week an incredible connection between the Heinz family
and the Armenian Genocide.
In a lengthy front-page article on October 27, the Los Angeles Times
disclosed that Howard Heinz, the grandfather of Sen. John Heinz (the
former husband of Teresa Heinz Kerry), went to Armenia in 1919 to deliver
desperately needed humanitarian supplies to the thousands of survivors of
the Armenian Genocide. Howard was one of the four children of Henry John
Heinz, the founder of the famous ketchup and pickle empire.
Times' staff writer Ralph Vartabedian, through painstaking archival
research, traced for the first time the Heinz' family tree, spanning over
four generations. Here is the reference in his article to the amazing link
between the Heinz family and the Armenian Genocide:
"Heinzes pioneered the industrialization of the U.S. food supply, pushed
government reforms to improve food safety and advocated for military
intervention to stop the Armenian genocide." Howard Heinz, who was deeply
involved in public service, "was sent to the Middle East by the Wilson
administration after World War I to head famine-relief efforts. On the day
[his father] H. J. Heinz died [in 1919], Howard was delivering 30,000 tons
of food to the region, where he witnessed the unfolding genocide that took
the lives of 1.5 million Armenians. Howard tried to get [Pres. Woodrow]
Wilson to send troops to halt the slaughter in harsh, remote areas of
eastern Turkey and Armenia. In a dispatch to the president, he wrote, 'I
do not believe America, when she knows the truth, will be satisfied to have
all our ideals of humanity thrown to one side while these people are
murdered.' His pleas were ignored," Vartabedian wrote.
This is a very significant revelation that was not known to most
Armenians, and possibly even to the descendants of the Heinz family. It would be
important to obtain copies of the first-hand reports Howard Heinz
dispatched from Armenia and Turkey, as the genocide was still unfolding.
Interestingly, should Sen. Kerry become president, an incredible family
connection would be established for the first time between the White House
and the Armenian Genocide. Kerry's three stepsons -- Teresa's sons from
her former husband - H.J. Heinz IV born in 1966, Andre born in 1969, and
Christopher born in 1973 -- are the great-grandsons of an eyewitness to
the Armenian Genocide!